1963

Peter Hujar

Palermo Catacombs #3 (man with skullcap)

Peter Hujar
Palermo Catacombs #3 (man with skullcap), 1963
From Katakomben, Palermo
Gelatin-silver print, 39.2 x 39.4 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur, gift Richard Brintzenhofe
1993-011-011

© 1987 The Peter Hujar Archive LLC

1934 (Trenton, US) – 1987 (New York, US)
At the height of the Gay Liberation movement, Peter Hujar was part of the hedonistic wave of emancipation that swept through the New York’s East Village and Lower East Side. He witnessed and was personally affected by this social transformation which started with the liberating rush of heroin and ended with AIDS. The form of his images, however, does not echo the excesses of that time. Instead, they are quietly posed explorations of the essence of human identity.